Dominance From Zach Edey Pushes Purdue Basketball Past Austin Peay in 63-44 Victory
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Zach Edey scored a career-high 30 points on 12-of-13 shooting and added 11 rebounds to lift Purdue to a 63-44 win against Austin Peay on Friday night inside Mackey Arena.
The junior center was challenged by Elijay Hutchins-Everett of the Governors, who notched 19 points of his own, including a pair of 3-pointers. As a team, the Boilermakers struggled to score from the perimeter, but 40 points in the paint were enough to improve to 2-0 for the second consecutive season.
“We had some really good looks that just didn’t go down, but it was a really good win for us,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said following the game. “I thought we defended well, rebounded well. We’d like to have about four or five of those turnovers sawed off and have around eight to ten turnovers a game.
“You’re trying to mix different guys in there to get a group or find a guy who can knock some shots down to get that balance because Zach was obviously very effective on the interior.”
After a poor shooting performance in the team’s season opener against Milwaukee, Edey caught fire from the opening tip. He made all eight of his shots from the field and led all scorers with 16 points in the first half.
“Obviously, getting off to a good start feels great,” Edey said. “But I think today, I really tried to value every shot that I took. I felt like last game, maybe I rushed some of my shots and took some off-balance shots. So today, I just tried to keep that strong base when I was shooting, not get rushed and take my shots.”
The majority of the offense’s points came from inside the paint for the Boilermakers. They scored 24 from close range while combining to go 1-of-24 from the 3-point line with the Governors to start the game.
Austin Peay was competitive early on, led by Hutchins-Everett. Matched up against Edey and the rest of the Purdue frontcourt, the opposing center made the first five baskets for the Governors and was their leading scorer with 10 points during the opening period.
“It’s something I’ve really been practicing all year, it’s not like it shocked me this game,” Edey said of his defensive adjustments to a player who could stretch the floor. “We came out and kind of wanted to challenge him and see if he really would make it, and he was making them. So we really had to get up on him and be aware of that pick-and-pop ball screen that they kept doing. I felt like at the end of the game, we did a really good job of shutting that down.”
Purdue finally managed to pull away as redshirt freshman forward Brian Waddell sparked a 12-2 run by knocking down a trio of free throws after being fouled behind the 3-point line. The team went 5-for-5 from the line before halftime, which included two attempts as a result of administrative technical fouls against Austin Peay for flopping.
The Boilermakers went into the locker room with a 31-16 lead, holding the Governors to 7-of-28 shooting from the field. Aside from Edey, only four other players on the team managed to score.
“You’re going to have some breakdowns, but right now, I would have thought that our defense would be behind our offense,” Painter said. “And it really is, but our defense has been pretty good here in the past couple of games.”
That trend continued in the second half as Edey scored the first seven points for Purdue when play resumed in the second period. The offense’s reliance on his presence in the paint was evident during a scoring drought of nearly four minutes before Waddell put in a shot from underneath the rim.
Senior guard David Jenkins Jr. provided a jolt in the low-scoring affair by knocking down the first 3-pointer of the game for the Boilermakers to take a 47-32 lead with 7:44 left to play. It was the team’s largest lead of the game since Edey’s first basket to begin the second half.
“I feel pretty good, I think Painter obviously just wanted me to get my feet wet,” Jenkins said. “I haven’t practiced since Saturday, and obviously missed the game too, so I haven’t been able to get up and down a little bit. I liked how he put me out there in certain spots and mixed it up.
“It felt good, man. The energy is crazy out there and I’ve got a bunch of teammates with high character who lift you up through the ups and your downs. So it was a pretty good transition going into this game.”
Jenkins, a transfer this offseason from Utah, missed the first game of the season and played 15 minutes off the bench in his Purdue debut. He missed the entire week of practice leading into the matchup after colliding with junior forward Mason Gillis during team activities last Saturday.
Freshman guard Braden Smith would later add another 3-pointer for the Boilermakers, but the team shot just 2-of-19 from the line despite quality opportunities.
“It’s not the normal. We were talking in the locker room, this is a game last year where we really would’ve struggled,” Edey said. “When we couldn’t just outscore somebody or when our shots weren’t going down. But this year, we can play defense really well. We don’t have to outscore people, we can just beat people.”
Purdue will be back in action on Tuesday, Nov. 15, in a home matchup with Marquette for the Gavitt Games. The game is scheduled to tip off at 8:30 p.m. ET at Mackey Arena and will be broadcast on FS1.
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